Variational quantum Monte Carlo ground state of GaAs

Abstract

Variational quantum Monte Carlo calculations are reported for the bulk GaAs semiconductor in order to present values for the ground-state energy, the lattice constant, the bulk modulus, and some derived properties. The statistical accuracy is significantly higher than the remaining differences to the experimental values, especially for the total-energy upper bound. The agreement with experiment is satisfactory. The results are also compared with those of density functional calculations. The accuracy of our results is comparable to the best of those calculations.

5 pages RevteX, 1 Postscript figure in press Phys. Rev. B (15 Aug 96)